by Abel, Regine
No, a doorway.
Could it be? Could this be my exit?
“Liena! Come to me, my love!”
As the excruciating stabbing pain resumed, piercing my womb right below my navel, I willed the door to open. It didn’t do so slowly but burst wide open as if someone had violently rammed into it. Standing in the doorframe, my beautiful Raven, his arms extended towards me.
My soul answered his beckoning. As my consciousness flew towards Raven, the organic walls of the liveship darkened, turning to ashes before collapsing all around me. I stepped through the doorway. When my hand touched Raven’s, a bright light blinded me. I felt myself falling and then my body closing all around me.
I blinked repeatedly, adjusting to the sensations of my surroundings. The distinctive feel of Raven’s body wrapped around me and his warm, familiar scent kept me from panicking while waiting for my vision to clear.
“She’s back!” Ayana exclaimed.
“You’re safe, Liena. You’re back in the real world,” Raven said, caressing my hair.
I glanced around the room, stunned to see so many new people surrounding us, then looked at my mate’s beautiful face.
“Thank you for getting me out,” I whispered, my mind still reeling. I gingerly rubbed my temple, relieved not to feel any alarming headache or other type of neural pain. “I thought my body was dying out here.”
“I will always come for you, my Beauty,” Raven said with fervor. “But no, you are unharmed. Whatever you faced in there, it didn’t cause you any damage, physical or psychic.”
“Thank God,” I said, grateful to Raven for helping me stand. “I’m sorry for the scare, guys,” I added for everyone else, feeling a little mortified.
“There’s no need to apologize,” Tabitha said with an oddly gentle voice, a strange expression for someone who otherwise always looked hard and stern. “We were selfish and pushed you too hard.”
“Selfish?” I asked, confused.
Raven frowned at Tabitha and subtly shook his head. She pinched her lips as if to repress a comment and kept her peace.
“What’s going on?”
“Nothing, love,” Raven said in an appeasing tone. “You’ve done enough for today. Let’s get you home.”
He exchanged a meaningful glance with Legion who nodded slightly in a way that screamed concession, then gave his father an apologetic look. Doom responded with an ‘it’s okay’ smile that had my ‘what the fuck?’ bells firing on all cylinders.
“What the hell is going on?” I asked, resisting when Raven tried to lead me by the hand out of the Incubator room.
“There’s nothing—”
“We wanted you to join our mission tomorrow,” Tabitha said, interrupting Raven. He gave her an angry glare which she utterly ignored. “Doom, Chaos, Steele, and Wrath will be leading a Hail Mary mission to try and prevent the Coalition from destroying Janaur and all of its people. That’s why you’ve been training with us these past few days, and that’s also why we’ve been putting so much pressure into testing all the limits of your powers. You’re the only Shield who could have been ready enough in time.”
“That’s enough, Tabitha,” Chaos said, with a hard, angry voice.
“No, she has the right to know,” Tabitha snapped back, glaring at him. “Stop coddling her. Liena is not a child. She has the right to know what’s going on.” Chaos opened his mouth to argue, but she didn’t give him a chance. “Don’t get your scales all tangled up. I agree that she’s not ready. But that’s not a reason to lie or keep secrets from her.”
“Thank you, Tabitha,” I said. She acknowledged my words with a sharp nod. I then turned towards the men, glaring at them. “I want to know everything and don’t bullshit me. If you won’t tell me, I’ll ask her.”
Raven made a face like he’d bitten into something sour, then told me everything from Doom’s lost units, to the impending Coalition attack, and their desperate last mission plan to prevent it all.
I pulled away from Raven and took a few aimless steps, overwhelmed by this information overload and its implications. Tabitha was right: the other women would never be ready for such a mission. I wasn’t ready for it, but I was their best bet. I could keep the girls shielded so that their Warriors would have a chance. So that everyone, including the women and the Janaurians, would have a chance.
What I couldn’t do was live with the knowledge that my fears had allowed an entire race to be exterminated, along with the flora and fauna of the planet. Worse still, that genocide didn’t even guarantee that whatever tool they’d devised to defeat our Warriors would be destroyed along with them.
“How long does it take to reach Janaur?” I asked, my back stiff with tension.
“Liena—”
“How long, Raven?” I snapped, interrupting him.
“Ten days.”
“Then you have ten days to fix me,” I said, before turning towards the girls. “Let’s go again.”
* * *
“Are you certain you are ready for this?” Raven asked, gently rubbing the bath sponge over my back.
“Yes,” I said, looking at him over my shoulder. “Before this whole mess with Silas, I had intended to join the Vanguard to help save the galaxy from the Kryptid menace.”
I turned around to face him, water splashing around us in the large Jacuzzi tub big enough for six adults. Wrapping my arms around Raven’s neck, I rested my knees on the bench on each side of him, my core pressing against his exposed sex.
“I may be a little broken, but I will do whatever is needed to keep you safe and to save the Janaurians. This isn’t guilt or a misplaced sense of obligation,” I said, my eyes flicking between his. “I’m volunteering out of conviction. This is the right thing to do, and I’m the best chance you guys have at the moment. Yes, I’m scared, but knowing that you’ll be there with me gives me all the courage I need.”
“My Beauty,” Raven said, his obsidian eyes looking at me with devotion. “I have dreamt of the day I would find you, but nothing prepared me for you to be so perfect.”
I snorted, both moved and embarrassed.
“I’m far from perfect,” I said, drawing circles with my index finger around the rounded, bone spikes along his shoulder line, far smaller than the ones along his spine. “But you do make me feel like the most wonderful woman in the world, despite my flaws and shortcomings. You make me feel like a goddess.”
“Because you are,” Raven said with a sincerity that melted me from the inside out. “And I intend to continue making you feel this way for as long as I draw breath, for as long as you will let me…”
And there it was. The other elephant in the room. Raven had been dancing around that subject even before the first time we’d become intimate, trying to assess the likelihood of me staying ... if only for him.
I lifted my hand from his shoulder and traced his plush lips with my fingertips. He kissed them, making me smile. I caressed his cheek then slipped my fingers through his curly, black hair, before fisting it and drawing his face to mine. Our lips met in a slow, sensual kiss. Our tongues mingled, the roughness of his providing extra stimulation that resonated straight to my core. His cock slowly awakened, pressing against me, and his arms tightened around my back.
Breaking the kiss, I rubbed his nose with mine, then rested my forehead against his.
“Stay with me,” Raven whispered. “Stay on Khepri… permanently… with me.”
I raised my head and locked gazes with him. The vulnerability on his handsome face turned me inside out. Raven was always so strong, so bold, and so confident, this fragile side of him made him both more real and less the inaccessible demi-god he always struck me as.
“Last night I wrote to Earth’s Scientific Academy to inform them that, while honored, I had to respectfully decline the prestigious position they had offered me.”
Raven inhaled sharply and went completely still, waiting for me to continue.
“And as of this morning, I’ve accepted yo
ur mother’s offer appointing me as Khepri’s Head of Scientific Research, with the specific condition that her son comes with the benefits package. We were supposed to make the official announcement on Friday, but this mission has somewhat thrown a wrench into things,” I said with a nervous laugh.
“My mate!” Raven said, crushing my lips with a bruising kiss.
His hands feverishly roamed over my body, and his hardening cock further pressed against me. Our tongues warred with abandon, tasting and caressing with unrelenting hunger.
“Bond with me, Liena,” Raven said against my lips, in a pressing voice. “Be my life mate, for now and always.”
My stomach did a somersault that had nothing to do with my arousal. By human standards, I hadn’t known Raven long enough to make such a lifetime commitment. And with the Xian Warriors, it was indeed until death do us part. The bonding involved fluids exchange that would lengthen my lifespan to match his, make me more resilient to illness, increase my healing speed, and make me compatible to bear his offspring. Only once bonded did a Xian Warrior became fertile, his sperm otherwise dormant until activated.
While typical human insecurities told me to wait, my heart and my soul knew I’d found the one. We weren’t exactly in love, and yet we were. More deliberation time wouldn’t change that I would spend the rest of my days by his side.
“Yes, Raven. I am yours, now and always,” I answered.
Happiness, not fear, filled my heart at having made the commitment. This felt right.
Holding me tightly to his chest, Raven rose to his feet. I wrapped my legs around his waist while he walked us out of the tub, water dripping on the floor all around us. Normally, I didn’t make use of the dryer which effectively sucked moisture right off our bodies. Being a bit of a sensual creature, I loved the feeling of a soft towel against my skin. However, in this instance, I didn’t mind when Raven waved his hand over the control panel. Warm air blew down on us while suction drew the water into the tiny drain holes barely visible in the pattern of the tiled floor. I welcomed the efficiency of the dryer while my mate continued to lavish me with kisses and nips.
Subtle at first while we’d been in the water, the cinnamon scent of Raven’s pheromones now surrounded us, making me dripping wet in an instant. I wriggled in his arms, trying to get some friction. That made him chuckle, the rumbling sound vibrating through his chest against my painfully erect nipples.
“Patience, Beauty,” Raven whispered against my ear. “Soon, I will have you screaming.”
But I didn’t want to be patient. I was so hot and bothered by the feel of his bare skin against mine, and the intoxicating scent of his pheromones, that I wanted him to fuck me into next week. Reaching the bedroom felt like it took an eternity. Raven seemed determined to take his time and drive me insane with need. After laying me down on the bed, his mouth and hands explored me leisurely. My chest, my arms, my legs, even my navel received plenty of attention, but he spared none whatsoever for my aching core.
I pleaded, begged, but still he refused me. When I slipped my own hand between my thighs in desperation, Raven pinned both of my hands above my head, and pursued his torment, one of his legs over both of mine, keeping me still. The subtonal vibration of his mating song wrecked me. My nerve endings became so sensitive that even the fiber of the bedsheets rubbing against my skin as I writhed with need set me on edge. A strangled cry tore out of me when Raven blew over my erect nipple, making my skin erupt in goosebumps. Seconds later, the rough texture of his tongue circling around it resonated directly in my pussy. While I’d always loved having my breasts fondled, I’d never been particularly sensitive there. For the first time, with his mouth licking and sucking on my nipple, I began to crest, release within my grasp without him having ever touched my sex.
And then he did.
A blinding light exploded before my eyes the instant his fingers touched my clit. I cried out his name, my back arching off the bed while his fingers furiously rubbed my engorged little nub. I was melting from the inside out, a flow of lava coursing through me as one fiery wave of ecstasy after the next swept me away.
Even after he relented, my body continued to tremble in the throes of passion. Raven settled over me, the soft scraping of his scales on my over-sensitive skin making my toes curl. Although burning hot, my mate’s body over me still felt cool in comparison to the inferno raging inside of me.
“Will you take me, Liena? Will you take all of me, all that I am, and be mine for as long as we both draw breath?” Raven asked, releasing my wrists at last to wrap his arms around me.
I didn’t trust my voice to speak, still high on the violence of my orgasm.
“I am yours, forever, and I want all of you.”
Raven needed no further invitation. His thick, pre-lubricated cock slipped into me, the penetration further eased by how ridiculously wet he’d gotten me. As I had invaded his mind, his entered mine while our bodies joined. Every sound, every smell, every caress multiplied in a whirlwind of sensations.
And yet, something had changed.
Raven had always been a passionate lover, but this time, he seemed to be going feral in his abandon. His hands tightened around me, holding me with a fierceness just on this side of pain. The bone spikes along his spine and the curves of his shoulders extruded further. Even his scales appeared thicker and harder as they slapped against me when he began pounding into me with renewed vigor.
Fear and excitement coursed through me in light of the violence with which Raven was taking me. It hurt so good, I wanted more even as I feared to break in his embrace. I raked my nails hard alongside his spine, lifting my pelvis to meet each of his thrusts. Raven shouted, throwing his head back in ecstasy. Lips parted, an expression of pleasure-pain on his face, I watched in awe as double-fangs I’d never seen before descended.
With the lightning speed of a snake’s attack, Raven lowered his head and sank his fangs into the fleshy part of my shoulder. I screamed as the sharp pain quickly faded, replaced with liquid ecstasy pouring into me, spreading like a forest fire throughout my entire body. My mate was inside me, not just his cock taking me to the doors of nirvana, but the very essence of him was now coursing through my veins, with his mind swirling around mine. I dropped my mental shield, welcoming him there, too. We were one, now and for always.
I felt his impending climax as an extension of my own. We toppled over together, his seed shooting inside me, searing hot, branding me. But even as I fell apart, my voice raw from screaming with pleasure, my lover didn’t relent. His cock didn’t soften after his climax and, twice more, he filled me with his seed, roaring his release while I drowned in a troubled sea of rapture.
Destroyed, I didn’t resist when he flipped us to the side. Raven held me cocooned in the shelter of his powerful arms, his strong chest pressing against my back, and his soul shielding mine.
I was home. I was safe. I was his, and he was mine.
Chapter 10
Raven
Despite putting up a brave front, Mother was devastated to have both Father and me leaving on this mission. With his in-depth knowledge of the region and behavior of the Kryptids infiltrating the planet, it didn’t make much sense not to bring him along, and there was no way I would part from my mate. We therefore agreed he would lead the small scouting and patrolling stealth fleet that would accompany the mission.
It had been a troubling departure, with all the Warriors able to free themselves piling up in the shuttle bay to see us off. The way many of them embraced me or touched my mind, made me fully understand what Father had meant when he said I was an important symbol for our people. But it wasn’t just a symbol these men were wishing safe journey to, but to their baby brother and, for some, to the closest thing to a son they would ever know. Yes, it had chafed being so excessively sheltered by my peers, but the depth of their love for me had never shone so brightly as in this instance.
I had no intention of dying, least of all now that I had bonded with my soulmate. I wan
ted to reach my two hundred year lifespan with her by my side, and to touch the blossoming soul of our future son growing in her belly like I had felt Ayana’s a few days ago. But I also wanted to return to my mother and my brothers, to appease the pain I could feel in their hearts at seeing me leave on this dangerous but important mission.
Father set off ahead of us in a faster scouting ship to assess the threats we would face. We left second, closely followed by the small fleet that would offer us possible support should the need arise and keep any incoming Kryptid ships at bay.
As soon as we set off, while Chaos, Steele, and Wrath made plans, I went straight back to training the women. Yesterday, and once again today after we’d set off, Liena had suffered another dream walking episode. But she now knew to seek my doorway to get out. The first incident in the Incubator had lasted eight minutes. The second one five minutes. This one a little less than three. We felt confident that by the time we reached the Rings of Janaur, she would be able to snap out of it in seconds. However, deep down, I hoped she would be over them, period.
To my shock, Liena suggested that I intentionally trap her in a dream walk. It terrified me that she would suffer a massive regression as this could create a complete loss of the trust between us that had allowed her to make such progress. But she made the valid point that waiting for them to occur on their own, possibly at a terrible time, was silly. If she had another crisis while we were separated, or I was too far away, or incapacitated in any way, she needed to be able to get herself out. My mate didn’t want to be the victim of those episodes but the one in charge.
Over the following days, I initially created pleasant scenes that I drew her in and didn’t set up any doorway, forcing her to create her own. The first ones took a while for her to get out of, but she quickly got the hang of it.
To my delight, Liena’s combat skills improved quickly. She certainly didn’t rival the veteran Soulcatchers, but she could stand on her own. Chaos seized every opportunity to train her, as did Tabitha. The blossoming friendship between those two pleased me. Tabitha’s tough and snarky personality usually kept others at bay. She hadn’t always been like that, but a severe heartbreak with her original Warrior had changed her.